Sunday we all set off for another day trip, this time up the Boquete side of the mountain. Since I didn’t make it all the way up on my bike trip with Jérémy, I figured he should at least have an opportunity see this well known area while he was in town. Lauren also wanted to check it out, and Cedo is always up for a day trip. Joel was at the wheel today (thank you Joel).

First we stopped at Los Molinos. This is a residential area on the way up to Boquete, and there is also a nice hotel and restaurant/bar area where expats tend to congregate for various fun activities. What interested me the most though was the view over the huge canyon. It’s hard to photograph to show the real size of the canyon but I can’t resist giving it a try.

In the rainy season there are also a number of waterfalls.

It would be fun to go walking down in the canyon someday.

After our stop there, we headed up on to Boquete. It was a beautiful day, and they had recently had the Flower and Coffee Festival so the fairgrounds were ablaze with flowers.

There is a bridge in the center of town over the river, which is a very picturesque place to see the flowers and enjoy the scenery.

The mountains in the distance were beautiful.

Jérémy checks out the scene.

The flowers were really beautiful!

Behind the fairgrounds we found these coffee plants in full bloom.

After a nice lunch at Mike’s Global, where you can always count on something good to eat, we headed home.

I have really appreciated having Jérémy here for a couple weeks! He has helped me, inspired me, gone riding with me, and taught me a lot. But all good things come to an end at some point. Tuesday morning we rode up the hill again. I stopped a bit short of Los Molinos because I was tired and slowing him down. Even with his bike fully loaded he can easily outbike me! He headed on to the Caldera Road, then across to route 10 which heads over the mountains to Bocas del Toro. (Yes, he made it! He said it was a very very difficult ride though) From there he will cross into Costa Rica, have a reunion with his family and a couple friends, and then he and his friends will be biking back through this area on their way to Colon, the ferry, and South America.